Is this okay?
by Superhood7
Summary: Kara Zor-El experiences a bad break and finds comfort with Jason and they soon learn what they really mean to each other. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

It was almost 11:30 at night in Metropolis when Kara Zor-El left Michael's apartment with tears in streaming down her face and the cold, bitter wind of the New England winter making the sting of the water feel all the more pronounced. Her white blouse glared from the streetlights as Kara had been walking for almost twenty minutes straight hoping to get some semblance of sense into her mind, trying to find some sense to it all and why it had happened, but it was all for nothing. The fact was that it had happened and, even with all of her god-like powers, there was really nothing she could do to stop it.

She took a moment to try and breathe as she leaned against the rough brick wall and just looked up to the sky, seeing past the clouds and the cold layer of winter fog and up to the stars. It brought her some comfort knowing that someone was going much the same thing as her.

An idea then appeared in Kara's head and she reached into her brown purse for her maligned cellular. She'd already gone through four Wayne phones, and she didn't want to tell anyone about her breaking the fifth. Her coworkers still wouldn't shut up about the first two that they knew she broke.

_Rao help me if they find out about three and four_, Kara joked to herself, the humor doing little to relieve her grief.

Another droplets began to flow and she tried to press the small touch screen buttons faster, only creating more and more small, crater-like cracks. Kara deep, calming, recognizing that she should stop now while she was ahead and, with forcibly slower movements, opened the Alfred app, on her phone.

Briefly, she swallowed back her tears and traced her finger over the icon. A bing noise echoed vaguely and she cleared her throat.

"Call Jason Todd," Kara requested.

Kara banged her head against the cold stone as her mind raced with what she'd say to him. "But what can I say? That my boyfriend just broke up with me?"

"What am I doing?" she asked herself aloud, Kara's mind beginning to mark off reason by reason on why Jason being her first choice to call was a mistake. "I can always hang up right now and-"

"Talk to me," she heard his gruff, Bowery accent and found herself grinning ever so slightly at the sound of his voice.

"Hello?" Jason asked again.

_Too late now_, Kara mused to herself before finally making a move.

"Hey, Jason, it's me, Kara". she introduced, keeping it together. It had been a skill she'd been working on for months: control, and it wasn't just of her powers, but of herself. From the sound of her voice, to how she carried herself and even the overall aura that she radiated when talking with other people.

_Time to take it out for a test._

"How.. how are you?" she stammered as she began to scratch at the brick wall behind her, her nails easily taking the punishment. "Do you have a moment?"

"Kara, what's wrong?" There was clear concern in his voice and Kara swore mentally.

"Kara?"

"I'm here," she replied,sliding down the wall and not caring less about the fabric of the shirt she was wearing. "I'm here," she echoed. "I was just wondering," she gulped. "Are you nearby? Because if you want, we could, what's the human phrase? Hang out?"

There were several seconds of silence that forced Kara to regret what she'd asked Jason, and another that was spent preparing to a way to back out. He was a hundred miles away or more for all she knew. What's more was that she knew he probably had other things to worry about. She knew how bad crime in Gotham was. Yes, Jason usually had one foot outside the city, but even still, it needed it's heroes.

"I think I can swing that," Jason answered back after a cruel waiting period.

"Oh, good," Kara sent back. "That's... that's good. Um..." she began again, not wanting to sound too needy, but still needing to know. "How soon do you think you can be here?"

"Soon as I can, Kara," he paused and she'd hoped it was to come up with a better answer. "An hour and a half?" He finally spoke up again. "Maybe two?" She heard him sigh over his phone. "Kara, you sound tired. Why don't you go back home? I know where you live. I'll meet you there."

"Alright," she nodded weakly. "See you soon?"

"See you soon." he parroted as he hung up.

The call ended with the long ding ringing in her ears for several seconds that ended with Kara burying her head in her arms.

Kara once again looked up to the black sky; black, like the void that had replaced her home and her wished she could fly back in time, back home, where things would have been simpler. Just a soldier, sure, but it would have still been leading an average life.

She closed her eyes tightly, _I wish..._

"No," Kara bit back the tears as she rose up from the cold concrete. "No, I'm not victimizing myself," she began to sing to herself. "It's okay, it's okay. I got lost on my way, but I'm a Supergirl," she stated as she picked herself up off the concrete and began the flight back home.

"And Supergirls don't cry."

...

She heard three knocks that woke her up from her daze on her small, two person couch in what passed as a living room. Slowly, Kara's eyes opened, but everything was foggy at first, like it was a dream she'd still hadn't woken up from. Groggy, she pushed away from the supporting back of the couch and pushed herself off the furniture piece and onto the cheap and scratched linoleum floors of her apartment.

"Ugh," she groaned. Kara rubbed her head and the knocking this time was accompanied this time by a melody from her TV. "Right," she muttered, seeing the menu to the movie Frozen. Kara had almost forgotten that she'd turned the movie on to help her get some sleep before Jason showed up.

It worked.

"I'm coming," she mumbled as she dragged herself over the cheap carpeting and over to the door.

"I'm here," she said as she opened the door, keeping in mind not to squeeze the knob to hard. She already had to pay for one replacement and, though she didn't strictly need the money, she still enjoyed something else to do with her day. Kara would also be lying if she didn't enjoy the odd girls night out that Siobhan sprang on her once in a while.

"Hey, Jason," Kara greeted with a slight pang of guilt in her voice. She was somewhat desperate for company when she called and not thinking straight. "You weren't waiting by the door for very long, were you?"

He shook his head. "Nah, Tiny-girl," Jason began to replied with a favorite nickname. He was wearing a brown leather jacket that night, with a white t-shirt under it and blue jeans. "I honestly just got here. Traffic was crap."

"Traffic?" Kara questioned, regaining enough lucidity to do so. "After Midnight?"

"Hey, in Gotham, that's when stuff gets _fun_," he casually waved it off. "So," his expression became more serious. "You sounded kind of frazzled when you called. Mind telling me what's up, K?"

Kara looked down and crossed her arms and forced her head down with her eyes closed. She took a deep breath before finally coming out and saying it. "Michael broke up with me," she confessed.

"Ah," Jason replied back, running his hand through his thick, black hair. "You mind if I get something to drink?" He asked, pushing past her and making a beeline for the kitchen.

She shook her head. "No, it's fine," Kara answered back as Jason moved into her small kitchenette area and began rummaging around through all the warm drink packages. "Thank you for coming, Jason, really."

"Don't," he began as he dug around for the kettle. "Ever," Jason continued as he grabbed a couple of mugs, and filled the kettle with water. "Mention it," he'd nearly finished, placing the kettle on the stove and turning it on high. "I mean it. I have-"

"A 'rep to maintain'," she mocked what might have been his catch phrase at that point with a weak smile. If there's anything she'd learned him, it was that he'd deeply, almost religiously, hated people thinking well of him. Jason had explained it to her once before, saying that 'he needed the underworld to be have the fear of God when they caught wind of him'. She saw through it, though, and it wasn't just because she had x-ray vision. "I get it, still, you made a trip all the way from Gotham to Metropolis just to-"

"I said 'don't mention it', Kara," Jason didn't look at her as he began searching for a cup to drink the tea out of. "Friends help each other, right? And you know what that means?"

Kara shrugged slightly. "You don't owe me shit, kay?"

"Now," he began to speak again, rounding the corner of the kitchenette. "Tell me what happened. That's what you called me here for, right, Kara?" He inquired, throwing his brown leather jacket off to an unused barstool several feet away from him. "So…" Jason trailed off and he sat next to Kara on her two person couch. "Talk."

Supergirl took a deep breath and she looked down. "You remember what Michael was like, right?"

Jason nodded. "Black kid, wheelchair, nads of steel?"

Kara wasn't sure how to respond to that last one, so she just kept talking. "Well, he sat me down and said that he'd always love me for the joy I brought him in life, and then…" Kara took a long breath. "Then he just broke it off like that," she weakly snapped her fingers

Jason sat up. "He give a reason?"

"He said…" Kara swallowed. "He had said that he couldn't risk his family with being around me. We both knew I wasn't the most careful with my powers," her speech began to speed up. "But I was learning, and we were happy and what we had was real. I would have protected his family from anything! He knew that and he still broke up with me and I can't-" a tear began to stream down her face. "And I'm alone again and I hate it and I hate him and I-"

"Kara!" She felt Jason's hand on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. "Calm down and listen, because I'm about to drop down some heavy truth bombs on you, alright?"

"Why? What could it possibly be? How could you justify him-" Jason continued to stare at her and she ceased her shouting. Kara then mentally braced herself, knowing she wasn't going to want to hear this.

"Kara, you know how a lot of times, us 'heroes' end up fishing off the company pier?" He asked.

"I don't know what that means, Jason," she remarked, her annoyance shown in her voice.

Jason sighed. "It means dating where you work, and for people like us," his hands motioned back between the two of them. "It means going out with other heroes, meta or not. You know why that is?" She looked down at the bare floor, having a feeling she knew what was coming next. "It's so that the people we love, the normal people, don't get caught in the crossfire, at least that's what I learned it meant. Hell, I could be wrong," Jason did a half sigh before he finished. "I've been wrong before."

Kara lifted her head up. "Who was she?" She asked bluntly.

Jason rubbed the back of his head and looked away, hoping that the kettle had been finished boiling, but knowing it hadn't. It wouldn't be for the next few minutes. She could tell that he wasn't used to opening up, judging by how insulated he and his friends were and how little she found him working with others outside of her, the outlaws and Batman.

"Jason," he felt Kara's soft, petite fingers turn his head toward her. "We're friends." Her expression suddenly became candid and straightforward. "More importantly, I opened up to you and it's only fair that you do the same for me."

"I also drove here from Gotham nonstop on a whim," he countered, grabbing her pale flesh and putting her arm down and getting up. "So I guess that still leaves us with one in my favor."

"Jason, wait," as soon as he made his move away, she made her own and placed her hand on his shoulder. "You know I wouldn't force you to do anything you didn't want, but," he stopped moving and she let go. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to push, but I-" she fumbled over to find the right words and paused as she let go. "I'm trying to adjust, but it helps to have people like me walk me through it."

"People like you?" Jason arched his eyebrow, asking exactly what she meant.

"People like…" she tripped over her words once again, not quite sure how to phrase it but resolute to keep going. "I mean, the 'understudies' of our family, you know? You're constantly measuring yourself up to Batman," he glared at her and she didn't care. "And I'm stuck wearing my family symbol on my chest, and do you know who they think _first _when they see the 'El' on my chest?" Kara asked rhetorically. "We both know what it's like to have people see someone else when they look at us, Jason. So, as a friend that gets it in a way Roy and Kori don't, will you please let me in?"

Jason let out a brief and exasperated exhale as he took his hand back. Like he expected, there wasn't any fight from her to let him go. She seemed to be getting better at controlling her strength, at the very least. "Her name was Isabelle."

Kara smirks slightly at the small victory, soon followed by the sad realization he'd also lost someone."What happened?"

"We met on a flight to Hong Kong, see, she was a stewardess, flight attendant, whatever, on an airline. You know what a flight attendant is, right, Kara?" She shot him an irritated glare, forcing him to move on. "Right, well she gave me her number, and I wanted to throw it away, I _should have_ thrown it away, but I kind of… didn't."

"Why not?" Kara asked, now genuinely curious.

"I don't know. I called, then hung up before she could answer, but things just…"

"Spiralled?" Kara offered.

"Things just spiralled." he agreed, no longer hesitating. "At any rate, to make a long story short, we liberated Tamaran, she got Joker gassed, then an adventure and a half later, I tried to patch things up, and she just… broke it off, not that I could blame her. I mean, when your boyfriend takes you to an island vacation that rips off of the plot from a 007 flick, what do you think will happen?" His tone came off as more sarcastic now. "Red Wine and Ferrero Rochers?"

She ignored the sass. "Did you like her a lot?"

"I…" he hesitated in his answer and looked at Kara in a kind of resigned joy. "Yeah, I did, actually," Jason smiled and still felt the fondness of having known her and then sighed. "I did. But, by the end of it, Isabelle straight up told me that she didn't want any of the life I had and said maybe when this is behind me, she'd consider it, but she knew what we know."

They stared at each other and and they both understood. "There is no leaving this life behind is there?" Kara brought voice to it. "At least, not when we can make a difference."

"I'm not saying it can't work out between us and normal people, but Kara, it would just take a lot of love and a whole lot more effort to make it work," Jason shrugged. "I guess that's why I respect your cousin as much as I do, even if I don't really _like _him."

Kara felt a pang of alarm and looked back up to the taller man. "You know-"

"Superman is Clark? Sure," he answered for her. "Not a lot of us do, and Batman keeps it on the downlow, but the hints are there if you look for them."

It was then that Kara decided to change the subject. "But you did have a chance with someone else, didn't you?" She asked sincerely, headed back to sit on the couch. "I mean, you and Batgirl…"

"How do you know about that?" Jason asked, following her lead and sitting back down on the couch next to her.

"Roy talks a lot."

"Roy needs to shut his trap, too."

"She seemed interested enough in you, Jason," Kara asserted, now trying to play something akin to match maker. "Tall, smart, attractive and driven. On Krypton, anyone would have tripped over themselves for a chance with someone like her. And she's a fish 'in the company pier'," she parroted his expression from earlier. "So why not take the chance?"

"I'm no good for her, Kara," Jason alleged. "She's the commissioner's daughter and arguably the second best crime fighter in Gotham and I'm still on InterPol's shit list. Besides," he laid his head back on the soft cushions. "I let her down easy."

"Jason, your last words to her were throwing her first words to you back in her face," she echoed his parting gift to Batgirl. "I'm pretty sure even _Darkseid _would think that's brutal. I mean, yeah, it probably stung at first, but I know you, Jason. You might not think you're good enough for something real, but I-" she caught her words and covered her mouth in regret, now knowing that she'd found out why. "Jason, do you not think you're-"

"Look, Kara," He interrupted her, now making the concerted effort not to look her in the why. "I get into some really weird crap, alright? Stuff that would make Batman scratch his head. I can't leave her, or anyone, waiting by the phone and listening for a call that'll never come. It wouldn't be fair to her, Isabelle. _Anyone_."

"So your plan is to just be alone until you die?" Kara felt a lump beginning to form in the back of her throat, accompanied by her blood slowly building to a boil.

"I have the outlaws," Jason offered, half sarcastically and half seriously. "Besides, what I need or want isn't important. If the world needs a hammer, then you can damn well bet that I'll be that hammer. If I had to smash my life to pieces to protect the people that actually matter, then why the hell wouldn't I?"

"Jason…" Kara gripped her jeans hard and felt warm tears stream down her face. "Why do Earth men have to be so stupid?"

"Hey, it adds to our mystique," he joked. "Kara, stop crying. I'm not worth-"

"You might not think you're worth it, but I do!" She shouted indignantly, now interrupted Jason. "You of all people know how bad it hurts to wear someone else's symbol, to feel like someone elses understudy and now, when you're trying to help me out, I find that you don't even care that you have the same problem?!" they were streaming down her face now. "How could you…" she bit back as she wept angrily on her friend's behalf. "How could you be so hypocritical that you don't even care about your own happiness?!"

"Kara," Jason tried to grab her hand, but she forced it away. "I don't cry for me, so don't you go-"

"I'll cry _for _you!" She shouted again. "Because obviously you won't do it for yourself!" She shook her head fiercely. "Damn you, Jason."

"Kara," the young man said softer than he had before and he made a second move for her, only this time going for her hand instead of her arm. "C'mon, I'm not a fan of seeing you…" she looked up to him with her blue eyes, shining wet from the tear drops and both his speech and thoughts slowed down.

He wiped her the water from her eyes and reminded her that he was there, with her, in the cheap light of a general store lamp. Jason came to her without asking what was in it for himself, without needing anything other than some dime store tea and without even pushing for more details. He just came to her.

She stared into his blue eyes. Neither of them was really certain what was going on but neither of them really prepared to break the moment. Within what had appeared to be seconds, Kara began to unconsciously count the beats skipped in both her and Jason's hearts and she knew what was about to happen. Her mind recounted all the times that she could have backed out of this meeting, but didn't: on the sidewalk, on the phone, in the doorway and grabbing onto Jason's arm and keeping him from leaving. Even if she didn't fully know why, she wanted him there, within arms reach.

There was a certain aroma that filled the air, as well. The smell of cold, winter chilled leather and the air of the open road, mixed in a bit of gunpowder and exhaust. Kara pursed her lips and licked the very back of them, enough to moisten them, but held it back so that he wouldn't see what she was thinking.

The kettle whistled, shattering, breaking, the moment. Jason broke eye contact and began to get up abruptly, obvious from his now shaky body language that he, for all his rugged wiles, wasn't sure how to proceed. "The tea's done, I should probably get-"

Control was lost and it was immediately replaced by the taste of black gas station coffee. Scars ran up and down his arms as his fingers seemingly danced over his ragged and cut arms. As their lips separated, another scent joined the fray. He reeked of something else that took her moments to discover: fear and longing, mixed into a single package.

"Kara…" Jason repeated once more, not hating what had just happened but not entirely sure what to make of it. He took a deep breath. "I should go," he finally said, ignoring the tea and grabbing his brown coat on the way out.

Quickly, he'd opened and closed the door, leaving the small apartment and leaving Kara with nothing but her couch and a small sigh, filled with nothing but not-quite-regret to keep her company.


	2. Chapter 2

It hadn't been until it was close to 2:30 am by the time Jason Todd had found a suitable hotel for him to stay at. There was a slight bit of stress leaving him, as well, having no reason kick up any dust than necessary.

_And as long as I don't bring any work with me_, he began to muse to himself, digging with only half his mind with him. _Then Supes shouldn't have any reason to come banging on my door._

Jason slid the key card through the slot and kicked the door open, scuffing the cream colored painted and leaving traces of Gotham's signature filth impact. He stumbled through the door and threw his small utility bag over on the nearby desk, made of cedar wood.

Keeping his thoughts together, even at that hour, wasn't easy for anyone not conditioned for it, like the 'bat-clan' had been. Tonight, though, had been special for Jason in that he was dog tired from the long night of staying focused on the road, having to constantly refuel with cheap gas-station coffee that, by and larged, lacked any real kick to it, save for the taste of rarely cleaned coffee makers and a cup that had been half filled with powdered creamer and sugar.

The next thing to leave his body had been his brown leather jacket, thrown at the nearby chair, next to the desk he'd thrown the bag at. Soon followed were his brown work boots. They weren't anything any respectable crime fighter would where for the sake of intimidation, but for on the fly operations, they were very durable. Aside from that, they offered an additional inch of height for anyone wearing them, so they did have their uses.

Finally came his blue jeans. Briefly, he'd forgotten that his belt was still on and they'd almost taken his red boxers with them, but he regained his senses quickly enough to prevent that from happening.

He laid on the bed and began to ponder, to wonder what would happen next.

"She kissed me," Jason muttered to himself, sitting at the foot of a bed adorned in a tacky green and violet comforter, head in his hands. The caffeine was close to finally running course.

Jason got up and walked towards his blue overnight utility bag and unzipped it. Reaching inside, he pulled out a comfort food that had been with him since before Batman had recruited him into his war: cherry pop-tarts. His hands made a zombie-like scramble to open it. The aluminum foil had caused a slight headache, it hadn't been the first to cause that type of thing that morning and he'd doubted very much it would be the last.

His prize finally unwrapped, he took a large bite out of it and the surge of sugar gave him new life, if only briefly. He quickly finished the first and began on the second before sitting back down on the bed.

"She kissed me," Jason repeated, burying his head into his arms. His mind raced with both the sugar and the anxiety. "It shouldn't bother me," he thought to himself, falling back onto the soft bed, garish bed. "It shouldn't, but…"

The idea of her, Kara, Supergirl, the maid of might, invaded his mind like only his deepest nightmares could. She was pretty, he knew that for damn sure. She was strong, so there wasn't much of a chance of her being hurt from his missions and given how outlandish they generally were, that was a major plus, but there was so much that could go wrong.

"You gotta think this through, Jason," he tried forcing himself to listen to reason, beginning on the second cherry pop-tart then. "You know how easily this could backfire?" he began pacing the room, his heart beat now erratic. "I mean, for one thing, she's Superman's _**cousin**_, for another… she's _**Superman's**_ cousin. You even entertain these thoughts and space Jesus will be on your ass faster than Roy at lady's night. You know that, right?" He said to himself in front of the mirror in the bathroom and forgetting exactly how he'd gotten there. "But…"

"She kissed me…" he repeated a third time, this time looking himself in his bloodshot blue eyes. "But it doesn't have to mean anything, Jaybird," he began talking to his reflection now, the combination of the pastry and the exhaustion combining. "Grayson has done a lot more than kissing and he's still single, right?"

"But come on, Jason!" the reflection seemed to speak back. "You know for damn sure that she was right about you two just 'getting' each other! And I can guaran-damn-tee you that there ain't another hero that's been through Jason Todd levels of bullshit in their lives outside of the family and you know it!"

"What about Superman?" Jason asked himself.

"Screw Space-Jesus! Kara's her own damn person, Dumbass," the reflection said back. "And, aside from that, don't you think you've kicked your own ass enough about what you've done?"

"I got into some pretty shifty shit…" Jason trailed off.

"Oh boo hoo for Jason Todd! You know what you've also done?" Jason, or the reflection asked. "Saved the planet from War World. Saved Tamaran. Saved Gotham city legitimately. Let Barbara Gordon down hard so she won't be waiting for a phone call that won't ever come, and, now that I'm on that, _made the sacrifice play so that she can be with someone that won't drag her down!_" Jason raised his voice at himself. "So I guess the question really is…"

"When will Jason Todd start living for himself the way he's lived for others?"

"I…" Jason turned around and gripped his black hair. "I don't…" his pop-tart fell to the green carpeting and he ignored it, instead choosing to sit on the bed. "I don't know…"

He fell back and let the bounce of the spring mattress break his fall. The kiss was nice. He knew that much and he just as much enjoyed it as it happened, even if it had taken him completely by surprise.

"She kissed me," he whispered to himself again, falling asleep with the vaguest of grins on his face. "And I liked it."

…

Jason moved down the streets of Metropolis, his hands in his pockets and his head down. He'd woken up early that day, having only gotten five hours of hard fought sleep until, finally, his restlessness had gotten the better of him, so he'd opted for the gym on the first floor of the hotel. Nearly an hour of running and an odd, hodgepodge of 80's classics later, he was still only slightly less conflicted about what he was on his way to do.

I hate this town, Jason mused to himself, hoping to take his mind off of his new, self assigned mission by complaining.

It was true, though. Jason never really had any positive feelings for the city of Metropolis, though he'd be lying if he said jealousy had nothing to do with it. With how clean it was and how, while Gotham always seemed to have one foot in the 1920's, another in the industrial revolution and only one hand clawing it's way into the present generation. Metropolis was the exact opposite in every single conceivable fashion.

The city of tomorrow almost always looked like it was on its way to those pulp sci-fi stories he used to steal from Alfred back when he was still Robin, before he'd died. The air was clean, people hardly ever kept their head down and they were so unapologetic about where and how they lived that Jason could almost believe he was in a Disney movie. Lex Luthor acting as the cartoon villain the way only he and Disney, could. Gotham, meanwhile, made all it's residents look ashamed to even have it on their records, from where they were born, to where they worked.

To Jason Todd, it was like being raised his whole life on cheap beer and had, only upon entry into adulthood, discovered the wonders of a single malt whiskey.

"Well," Jason mumbled, having finally made it to the coffee shop. It hadn't been his first time getting a drink there, but it was only his third and each time he did show up, it was only to contact Kara on for a new mission he didn't trust his usual team with. "She'll know why I'm here," he continued, looking up at the sign that read 'Cafe' of Tomorrow'.

"It's not really much of a plan..." he second guessed himself for the last time as he entered the coffee house.

"But it's a plan."

The bell rang with a ding and it was obvious that, sense the last month he'd stopped by here, they still hadn't changed out the normal brass bell for an electric one, not that he could really blame them. Small businesses are what they are, after all, and if there was anything that made Jason's native hell hole like the city of tomorrow, it would've been that the laws of economics still applied, especially with small businesses.

"But I wonder how easy it'd be for them to make bank if they knew the one and only maid of might worked here…" he mused quietly, with a wry smile on his face.

That was when he saw her, for the second time in about 12 hours and relatively at peace and helping a girl and a guy, both kind of on the shorter side of things and handing them their iced coffee. Faking her smile like anyone with two braincells to rub together would working a job like this.

And here we go, Jason walked up to the counter. "Kara, hey."

Her eyes went wide for a half second and he knew then it was awkward for her as well. _Well, at least we both don't know what the hell is going on. That's something._

"Jason," she hesitated. "Hello."

"Look, Kara, about last night-"

"Hold on, Jason," she raised her hand up and he stopped. "Right here is not really the best place to hold this discussion and I think you'll agree," she argued, then looking at her manager, several feet away.

"Two and a half minutes, Kara," she raised her hand with two fingers extended.

…

"Alright, I'm here," Kara stated, mostly bland but with a slight twinge of anxiety in her voice. "Did you want to start or shall I?"

Jason was at a loss. He usually knew what to do. He usually had some sense of control or direction or something he could plainly see or deal with. When he saw a murderer, he knew could shoot them. When he saw Tim or Damian, he knew could jerk them around. When he saw Roy, or when he saw Kori, he knew them, period.

But Kara wasn't Tim, Damian, Roy or Kori. Kara was a friend. Kara was an unknown and, more importantly than either of those things, she trusted Jason.

"You go," Jason answered, forcing a wry grin to hide his own misgiving about where they were and what they were doing. "Because, judging by the way you can't quite look me in the eye either, you got something to throw in to, right?"

She shot him a glare but instead of calling him out on it, only sighed. Two and half minutes an argument could not fit in.

"Jason, you do not have to worry about the kiss, alright?" She met him eye to eye. "Tention was running high and it was late. You're one of my best friends, so naturally I'd try to find comfort in that when I felt the way I did," she shrugged. "It doesn't mean anything, alright? It was just the heat of the moment."

"Well…" He trailed off as he rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. "Here's the kicker, Kara…" he forced himself to look her in the eye for this part. "Maybe I wouldn't mind if it was more than 'the heat of the moment'?"

Kara's eyes went wide and then narrow. "What are you saying, Jason Todd?"

"Hell of a question, Kara," Jason admitted, now looking everywhere but her. "But…" he sighed himself. "Look, Kara, you and I both… we get it, right? Like, we both know what it's like to be the bastard understudy to bigger guys and we both… well, we get it, right? You get what I'm saying?" She looked at him, fighting back a smile and losing. "We just… you and I have an understanding and it's like what I have with Kori and Roy. There's no judgement, right? I see what happened to you, you see what happened to me," he continued to ramble and she began to stroll closer to him. "And we don't hafta make-"

He was cut off by an abrupt peck on his lips.

"Pick me up around Midnight?" Kara asked, her hand cupping his chin.

"Sure, great," Jason stuttered, now having to tilt his head back to bring her eyes into full view "I'll bring the ferrero rochers?"

"And I'll bring the red wine," Kara finished as she turned around and headed back to her work.

"Wait," Jason began to smile mischievously now. "Isn't underage drinking illegal?"

"Isn't being a gun toting vigilante?" She answered without turning around and with an audible smile as she reentered the door to the cafe of tomorrow. If Jason Todd hadn't known any better, he would have sworn he'd seen her skip as the bell rang and greeted her.

…

The first thing Jason did when he got back to his hotel room was take a long nap. The date wasn't going to happen until midnight, after all, so he had plenty of time to recoup any loss of REM shut eye that making the trip to Metropolis had cost him in the first place. Although it wasn't as if the sleep was easily won. Jason still had the odd nightmare to contend with and the last thing he needed was worrying about a date with a cosmic level superhero that could bring down half the world by herself if she'd felt the inclination.

Fortunately, Jason knew that she'd never do that. Kara was a lot of things, including hurt frequently and misguided often, but she saved going out of her way to hurt people for only two people in the whole wide universe and both of them were on the other side of said universe. At least as far as Jason knew, at any rate.

The second thing he did was revisit the shower and make sure it was as long and as hot as he could without it burning the already abused, scared half of his body. He used Old Spice, though it was less due to the preference of the smell and more because he actively hated the Axe commercials. Upon exiting the shower, he looked at his stubble covered face and decided that it might not have been a bad time to shave, although he did debate it. He didn't know whether or not Kara was the type of girl to like the extra scruff on men, but in the end, he reached for the razor and made a go of it. He never grew his facial hair right anyway. It always came in in sections and the sidebern's whisker's would never ever actually connect with whatever it was that his chin and upper lip was doing.

After the shower, the third thing on his list, aside from getting a cheap sandwich from the local Burger Fool, was finding some appropriate clothing for the occasion. Even if Jason had been wearing a clean shirt, he was, the point remained that he knew for a fact the shirt he'd been wearing had to have the blood stains bleached from it several times over by this point.

He needed new clothes.

It was nearly six o'clock by the time he made it to a local tailor, run by an older black woman with the care only a small business woman could offer both her work and her passion. She'd tried to set him up in a red shirt, but Jason insisted on white. He'd worn enough of that color during his night job and he prefered it if his off-time wasn't marred by the same hue. She'd also found him a pair of linen black pants and an old, refurbished jacket, both of which only needed slight repair and alteration, and with an extra $100, the older lady was more than happy enough to get it done within the next few hours. Although the idea dawned on him that she had the vaguest of inklings what Jason's plans were, they both kept it to themselves. Jason because he wasn't the most chatty with non-criminals on the best of days and her, he guessed, because men like Jason was more than likely where she'd earned the big money to pay for her grandkids education.

But it was just a guess, and not even a well thought out one at that. Still, he needed something to keep his mind occupied until his date later that night. He needed to find a place that would be open that late. He needed to find out what his plans were afterward. Jason had ideas, but with everything that had happened to his love life in the past, from Essence and to Isabelle and how he refused Barbara, he could only ever wonder if he was doing the right thing by even asking her out like this.

It was the question that rattled and railed against his mind with so much force that Jason began to wonder who, exactly, was right between the two of them: himself for wanting to make sure no one got hurt from being in his life?

Or Kara, who asserted he should live for himself just as much as he should live for others.

…

Jason didn't know that Kara asked for the rest of the day off from work to prepare for the date, just like she didn't know her manager would say yes. It was just like how Siobhan didn't know Kara would drag her from New York to Metropolis to help her with her mad plans of dating an outlaw hero.

But I guess that's the fun of not knowing, Kara mused internally with a vague grin on her face.

"Alright, Kara, I got news fer you," the white haired punk rocker exposit to Kara, not taking her head out of her closet as she did so. "You got no worthy dating clothes!"

"I get that, Siobhan, thank you," Kara retorted, getting up from her small chair and moving some of her clothes to the side of the closet to help her friend see better. "Isn't that why I called you here?"

"Aye," she agreed. "But still, ye've got to gimme somethin' to work with, Love. Else ways you might as well go in your work uniform," she paused. "Nevermind, knowin' how in depth you've figured out Earth, you probably would, wouldn't ye?' Siobhan finished sarcastically.

"Do you know what this Jason likes, Kara?" she asked after several more seconds of fumbling through Kara's admittedly small closet. "Classy, grungy, normal date attire? Church casual? Throw me a bone, Lass!"

"Well…" Kara began to tap her finger on her chin and thought for a moment. "To be honest, he reminds me a bit of you when it comes to style."

"Aye?"

"He rides a motorcycle and likes leather, but I've never actually seen him outside of…" Kara thought for a moment for the right word. "Work."

"Work work or Overtime work?" Siobhan went t specify.

"Overtime work," Kara caught her meaning. "So I suppose that I should defer to your judgement, Siobhan. When you're on a date, what do you like the other to be dressed like?"

"Hehe," she chuckled. "That's a question, isn't it? I reckon that I'd like somethin' that blurs the line between classy and metal, far as I figure."

"And that works?"

"Well, I'd be out for something a might more casual with less farsightedness, if you catch my meanin', Kara," she shot her a wink.

"What?" Kara asked, crossing her arms.

"You know, havin' 'im' make me hit the high notes."

"Is this a music thing?" she asked innocently. "I didn't realize it was Earth custom for musicians to perform for their dates."

"Nah, Love, I'm talking about my 'guest'," she said while making air quotations. "strumming my g-string."

There was a brief silence before Kara spoke up again with her voice still like a rock in a desert.

"So you teach your date how to play the guitar?"

"Mary mother of Christ, Kara!" Siobhan let out a laugh and had to keep herself from falling down. "I mean, good god, girl. Haven't you ever…" she caught herself, having evidently realized the problem. "Kara, are you a virgin?"

Her eyes went wide and she looked away. "What sort of question is that?" Her face turned bright red. "I mean, why would you think that I… well, I've never…" Now at least she understood what all those strange expressions Siobhan said meant. It wasn't her fault she never took the time to learn about the goings-ons and cultural norms of Earth's more sensual side. "I've been busy, with the JLU and with the Crucible academy, not to mention work and looking after my cousin's-"

"Yer hot cousin's," Siobhan added with a sly smirk.

"My hot cousin's," Kara glared at her. "My cousin's city with him gone doing Rao knows what. Finally having…" she stumbled for the right word, looking off to the side and rubbing her upper arms up and down. If she was being honest with herself, this type of thing was something she had little experience of for herself even back home on Krypton. There was always something else for her to do that kept her from ever making the first steps for the effort, from preliminary military education, preparing her for when she eventually joined krypton's guard, to help her father with his many side projects and baby-sitting the then infantile Kal-el.

"I got ya, Kara," Siobhan reassured her, wrapping her own arm around the petite girl's shoulder. "Don't ye worry, Girl. I'll make sure you'll get the deed done, or my name is Blake MacAteer."

Kara looked down, unsure of what was about to happen or whether she even wanted it to happen like this. "Siobhan?"

"Yes, Lass?" she replied back.

"Thank you," Kara expressed. "Even if it doesn't go as well as I'd like, or you'd like,, thank you for trying."

"Thank ye for not kickin' me out after I made an arse of meself," she pulled her closer for a one armed hug and then separated. "Now then, we got to make ye look presentable, and trust me, Kara, we got a long way to go."


End file.
